Adjustable mute



Aug. 24, 1948. V F. GOSPARLlN ADJUSTABLE MUTE Filed July 8, 1946 Frederik; Ga'spariiri awe/who'l Patented Aug. 24, 1948 UNITED STATES PATENT ()FFICE 2,447,939 ADJUSTABLE MUTE Frederick Gosparlin, Glendale, Calif. Application July 8, 1946, Serial No. 681,840

This invention relates to mutes for a violin.

An object of this invention is to provide a mute for a violin, viola, cello, bass, or other high bridged musical stringed instruments, to soften, beautify, and otherwise control the tone of this type of instrument.

Another object of this invention is to provide an adjustable mute of this kind whereby the bridge of the instrument is free to vibrate between tone co-ntrollers which are adjustably supported on either side of the bridge by gripping means which engagethe base of the bridge below the waistline thereof, thus permitting the vibratory tones to be adjustably selected.

Another object of this invention is to provide an adjustable mute of the kind to be hereinafter described, which eliminates the wolf tones which usually are developed by other mutes of this type by virtue of the fact that the weight of the mute does not rest on the upper end of the bridge which is vibrated by the strings, but rather is supported by the base of the bridge which is not vibrated and therefore, does not effect the tone.

Yet another object of this invention is to provide an adjustable mute of this kind wherein the upper part of the bridge, above the waistline, is free to vibrate between tone controllers which are vertically adjustable on the bridge, whereby a range of tone control is readily selectable by the artist to his particular choice at any and all times, thereby providing for the maximum amount of pleasure and personal satisfaction for the artist.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a precision adjustable tone control violin family mute of the kind described, to soften, beautify, and control the tone of the violin at the fancy of the artist.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a mute of this kind which may be made of wood or metal, or any other suitable material, at a reasonable cost, whereby this controlled tone mute may be readily available to all artists who may desire the precision tone control which this mute makes available.

With the above and other objects in view, my invention consists in the arrangement, combination and details of construction disclosed in the drawings and specifications, and then more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings,

Figure 1 is a front elevation of this mute on a violin bridge, the violin being shown in a fragmentary section,

2 Claims. (Cl. 84-310) Figure 2 is a side elevation of the mute and bridge taken on the line 2-2 of Figure 1,

Figure 3 is a vertical section, taken on the line 3-3 of Figure 1.

. Referring to the ignates generally drawings, the numeral I0 desthe upper surface of a violin or other similar high bridged stringed musical instrument. The bridge II is supported on the violin It in the usual manner between the strings and the upper wall of the violin. The numeral I0 designates generally the lower end or base of the bridge II and the numeral I4 designates the upper end, above the waistline I5, which is vibrated in accordance with the vibration of the strings, not shown.

Artists frequently desire to use mutes on violins to soften the tones and heretofore the mutes have been such as to engage snugly over the strings onto theupper end of the bridge in such a manner, as to permit the strings to vibrate yet dampenin the vibration of the bridge by the weight of the mute. This weight of the mute on the vibrating bridge results in certain undesirable wolflsh tones. This mute of my invention is designed to soften the tone of the instrument without the heretofore consequent wolf tones, since the weight of the mute is carried by the base I2 of the bridge permitting the vibration of the upper end I4 of the bridge I I.

This mute I6 constructed according to an embodiment of my invention is formed with an upper body section I! which may be made of met-a1, wood orother suitable material. The body I! is formed of a flat piece of selected material having an arcuately contoured rounded upper edge I8, and a pair of opposed downwardly extending tone controlling or adjusting arms I9 depending from each end.

An annular soft resilient pad 28 is fixed to the lower inside end of each arm I9 and is adapted to engage the sides of the upper end of the bridge I i when the bridge is vibrated for controlling the tone of the instrument. The opposed arms I9 are longitudinally spaced apart a slight distance together with the pads 20 so that the bridge is quite gently engaged by the pads 20, there being no vertical force as the weight of the mute acting on the upper end I4 of the bridge.

For supporting the mute It on the bridge I I in the desired position there are provided a pair of oppositely disposed downwardly extending supporting arms or stabilizers 2I. The arms 2| are spaced inwardly of the tone controlling arms I9 and extend downwardly much farther than the arms I9. The arms 20 are gently bowed out- For adjusting and controlling the tone of the I muted instrument, there is provided a control or set screw 24 which is threadably engaged vertically through the longitudinal and medial center of the body [1. The screw-24 extends. downwardly from the body l1 between the upper end of the arms is rounded for smoothly engaging the upper edge of the bridge H. Clockwise rotation of the control screw 24 effects vertically raising the mute 1-6 on the bridge H for lightening the tones. A knurled knob 25 on the upper end of the control screw 24 above the bridge I I is provided .for finger tip control by the artist.

In the use and operation of this Wolfless mute it the set screw 24 is first threaded to its outermost upper extremity whereby the mute l6 may be engaged on the bridge H as far down as possible with the lower edge of the body I! substan- 53' tially engaging the upper edge of the bridge. This position results in wolf tones similar to conventional mutes as the weight of the mute I6 is in engagement with the upper end Id of the bridge H. that which he finds most desirable by turning the control screw clockwise to raise the mute I6. The knob 25 and screw 24 are rotated until the desired tone is found, which tone will still be wolfish as the weight of the mute upper end of the bridge II. To remove the wolf tones, the screw 24 is then rotated counter-clockwise on half a turn sufficiently to disengage the screw 24 from the bridge I I at which time the mute I6 is totally supported from the lower end of the bridge ll, below the waistline l5 by the supporting'arms '21! and the upper end [4 of the bridge is. vibrated freely of the weight of the mute between the tone control arms [9 and pads t o I do not mean to confine myself to the exact The artist now adjusts the tone to :2

still engages the 1'.

2| and the lower end of the screw 24' said pair oppositely-disposed supporting arms depending downwardly from said body section intermediate of tone-controlling arms and adapted to support the, mute at points below the waistline of the bridge, resilient pads on the adjacent surfHGQS'OfeQQJ- of the pairs of tone-controlling arms which are engageable with the bridge, and means adjustably carried by said body section adapted to be moved towards and away from the upper side of the bridge;

2; An adjustable mute for a high-bridged musical instrument comprising, an upper body section, a pair of oppositely disposed supporting arms depending downwardly from the central portion of said body section and adapted to slidably engage the bridge, a pair of spaced tone-controlling arms depending downwardly from opposite ends of said :body section for engaging the bridge, the first named pair of arms being of such length as to normally engage the bridge below the waistline thereof and the last named pairs of arms being of such length as to normally engage the bridge above the waistline thereof, and means associated with said body section approximately midway between the opposite ends thereof movable into and out of bearing engagement with the upper surface of the bridge, all adaptedand arranged whereby the mute may be adjusted vertically with respect to the vertical axis of the bridge and thereby the relative vibrations of the bridge above and below the waistline thereof may be controlled.

FREDERICK GOSPARLIN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,175,007 Warner 0on3, 1939 

